Full-Time Faculty

Miranda B. Johnson

About

Miranda Johnson is the Associate Director of the Education Law and Policy Institute. In this role, she works closely with Interim Dean Michael Kaufman to effectuate the Institute’s goals in the areas of curriculum development, research and outreach, and educational advocacy. She also teaches experiential learning courses in education law and supervises law students in the representation of parents and students in school discipline and special education cases.

Prior to assuming the position of Associate Director of the Education Law and Policy Institute, Miranda served as the Salisbury Clinical Teaching Fellow in Child and Family Law in Loyola’s Civitas ChildLaw Clinic. In that capacity, Miranda supervised law students in the representation of children in child protection and child custody cases and in the representation of parents and students in school discipline and special education cases. She also participated in teaching the Clinic’s seminar on child representation, focusing on substantive knowledge, skills development, and ethical concerns in child advocacy.

Before joining Loyola, Miranda worked as a staff attorney at Advocates for Children of New York (AFC), an organization promoting access to quality educational services for New York City school children. At AFC, Miranda represented parents of students with disabilities in administrative proceedings to obtain appropriate educational services. She also represented parents and students in federal class action lawsuits to remedy systemic legal violations with respect to education in New York City.

Miranda completed a joint law and policy degree program, obtaining a JD, magna cum laude, from New York University School of Law and a Master in Public Affairs from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. At NYU, Miranda received a William and Mary Sterling Scholarship and was part of the Root-Tilden-Kern Scholarship program for public interest students. While in law school and graduate school, she worked for a variety of organizations, including Human Rights Watch, UNICEF and the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI). She also co-led a project for the Kenyan Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the UNICEF-Kenya Country Office to apply a human rights-based framework to primary education.

Upon graduation from law school, Miranda completed a federal court clerkship for the Honorable Allyne R. Ross in the Eastern District of New York.

Prior to law school, Miranda was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research for one year on small-scale women’s income generating groups in Tanzania. She subsequently worked in Tanzania for two additional years as a program officer on gender and development issues. Before working in Tanzania, Miranda taught social studies at a residential high school serving students who had not succeeded in traditional settings.

When she graduated from NYU, Miranda received the Butler Memorial Award for unusual distinction in scholarship, character and professional activities. In 2002, Dartmouth College honored her with the Martin Luther King Jr. Social Justice Award for alumni.

Degrees

A.B., magna cum laude, Dartmouth College, 1997M.P.A., Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, 2006J.D., magna cum laude, New York University School of Law, 2006

Professional & Community Affiliations

Member, Attorney General’s Advisory Committee on Special Education and the Sub-Committee on School to Prison Pipeline (January 2015 – present)

Co-author (with Deus Kibamba), “Governance and Civil Society Interventions in Land Reform Processes in Tanzania” in Land Research Paper Series. Harare: MWENGO, 2003.

Trainings, Conferences, and Presentations

Co-Presenter (with Dr. Pamela Fenning and Michelle Rappaport), “Illinois Discipline Legislation and the Role of School Social Workers: The ‘Building Bridges’ Program and an Illinois Model Code of Conduct as Effective Tools” (October 28, 2016). Illinois Association of School Social Workers 2016 Annual Conference, entitled “Champions of Positive Change: The Adventures of School Social Workers,” Lisle, Illinois.

Presenter, “School Discipline and SB 100,” (September 16, 2016). Training for Intensive Probation Services of the Juvenile Court of Cook County, organized by the Loyola University Chicago School of Education, Chicago, Illinois.

Presenter (as part of a training team certified by the Illinois State Board of Education), “School Discipline Reform: Strategies for Systemic Change,” Administrators’ Academy #1717 (March 14, 2016 – present). Presented in multiple venues across the state.

Moderator, “Special Education and Discipline” (November 2, 2011). Conference entitled “Special Education in Charter Schools: Challenges and Opportunities” presented by the Loyola University Chicago School of Law ChildLaw and Education Institute.